7 November 2007
Dear
Customers & friends
The year is
nearly over and looking back there is quite a lot I have achieved.
More of
that (maybe) in the next and last Newsletter this year.
We are well
booked right now, but still I will close shop from the 21 December until 7
January 2008.
Past
experience shows that final booking has to be done at least 2 weeks before the
time, unless it is something minor.
What I will
do in my time off, I am not sure yet.
The most common fault I find on most vehicles is incorrectly fitted
spark plugs.
Firstly you must have an R-rated plug on a Fuel injected motor to curb
interference to your ECU.
No use in fitting a projected nose plug into a recessed-plug motor. Even
if your piston does not punch into it, it could be that the combustion flame
blows out said plug. The list carries on.
We quite commonly find Colt v6 24 valve bakkies with the incorrect plugs
fitted.
The correct ones need replacing every 80 000 km’s due to the labour
intensive process at getting at them (a Carrera 4 turbo is worse.)
The next common malady is a failing fuel pump.
You will realise a constant decrease in power accompanied by a miss or
hesitation at certain RPM/throttle ranges.
I am mentioning this because a lot of people think that a Unichip will
fix these problems.
A Unichip sets a car up right but is no magic potion.
Similar to those people bringing me something to have an aftermarket ECU
fitted, without knowing what they got.
I am no magician who knows every engine made.
Case in point; a Sentra was towed in purportedly with a South African
GA16DNE from a Sti fitted.
This motor did not resemble those of the Sti I know, as it had some kind
of variable valve timing switch fitted.
Problem was the car would not idle and I could not make power at low
RPM.
The customer gave me various versions of what was supposed to be, until
I figured that I just start from scratch and charge accordingly. Finally we got
the Gotech working and making some power, but even though I advised the client
to get me those
I can only rig up the electronic controls on high-tech non SA motors if
you tell me what needs to be controlled in which way.
More and more companies are offering “chip tuning”. I
have put this into parenthesis because tuning means no more that setting your
Engine up correctly, so that everything is working together properly. There is
no way that you can tune a car without a Dyno.
Yes you can take a downtuned motor and find the
correct map, thereby increasing its performance.
You can also assume that all vehicles falling under
the same model are the same and can therefore tune 1 and apply the same values
(called a map) to all the others. I tune at least 2 Hilux 2.7’s a week and all
run different maps. Of course I can now take 100 maps and “build” a universal
one with the average safe values, to be applied to all other similar vehicles
to be done in future. I’ll probably gain some power and fuel economy, but not
close to that of a properly tuned vehicle.
A lot of these “chips” get applied to Diesels.
A diesel will make more power if you inject more
diesel.
It will not necessarily make more power by just giving
it more boost- rather give it more cold air.
When I put a Diesel on the Dyno I add diesel until my
AFR goes below a certain point or my EGT goes too high.
Same with timing and knock. Do you think the majority
of “chip suppliers” test their product in our conditions ?
I am prepared to bet you that all things being equal I
will always make more power, safely with a better fuel economy than any
aftermarket “chip” !
Finally some Exhaust knowledge:
Stainless steel retains heat far more readily than
Mild steel, therefore necessitating a different way in constructing a system.
Mild steel gives you more flexibility in the design
approach, therefore often making more Power than stainless.
Until next time I leave you with the words of my
(probably) favourite poet
Siehe Wilhelm Busch!
Halt dein Roesslein fest im Zuegel
kommst ja trotzdem nicht allzuweit
hinter jedem neuen Huegel
dehnt sich die Unendlichkeit
Nenne niemand dumm und saeumig
der das Naechste recht erkennt
denn die Welt ist so geraeumig
und der Kopf ist so beschraenkt.